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As a Canadian American flying Lufthansa from Vancouver to Munich direct I was amused to learn that so long as your flight isn't passing over US airspace nobody

by munk-a 5y ago

As a Canadian American flying Lufthansa from Vancouver to Munich direct I was amused to learn that so long as your flight isn't passing over US airspace nobody gives a rats ass about airplane mode and you can happily continue to use data and make calls (using a transmitter on the plane to relay signals I'd assume) for the entire flight including take off and landing. This seems to be an entirely BS safety concern made up by US regulators for who even knows what reason.

p_l 5y ago
Tests in UK, Australia and Israel pointed at interference exceeding allowed limits, with an accident ("crash" in aviation lingo) being at least partially caused by erroneous data from radio altimeter (in 2009, different source of interference)
dylan604 5y ago
My understanding was from the old analog days where the signals could actually be received while at altitude, however, the software tracking phone switching towers wasn't able to keep up with the speed of a plane so no billing could be applied to the calls. The digital signals are not broadcasting up any longer, so signal is not as useable. However, the BS excuse of "interferes with cockpit operations" was such BS they couldn't just say "just kidding". Urban legend? Maybe? Fun cahoots type of story though.
- p_l 5y ago
  Urban legend - even in NMT days, the antennas on cell towers were directional and tried to avoid uselessly radiating upwards. Good luck getting usable signal at any flight level of commercial flight. Even if you're low enough, it's not uncommon for calls to drop due to speed (in fact a common problem on higher speed trains, and newer cell networks do include improvements for high speed terminals due to that). The mobile phone is just the most common device that is required to have its transmitter shut down, and part of that is that what is fine for home/office environment is not fine in aviation environment (different regulatory domains et al) so the easiest way is to mandate shutting down all transmitters then whitelist certain kinds (2.4GHz stuff like Bluetooth tends to get a pass because 2.4GHz is unlicensed due to possible interference from airliner's microwave ovens)
  - dylan604 5y ago
    So this interference is only applicable to airlines controled by FAA, or that non-US air carriers/regulators are less concerned about this?
    - p_l 5y ago
      From my knowledge US airlines are the most lax about enforcement. Any data/calls in the flight have to use local base station or wifi calling going over satellite due to mobile signals being simply unavailable, and these days airliner crews consider it mostly a way for harm reduction during takeoff and landing. Anyway, enforcement ultimately depends on flight crew, and you really don't want to know what's the upper limit of their authority.

by munk-a 5y ago

p_l 5y ago

Tests in UK, Australia and Israel pointed at interference exceeding allowed limits, with an accident ("crash" in aviation lingo) being at least partially caused by erroneous data from radio altimeter (in 2009, different source of interference)

dylan604 5y ago

My understanding was from the old analog days where the signals could actually be received while at altitude, however, the software tracking phone switching towers wasn't able to keep up with the speed of a plane so no billing could be applied to the calls. The digital signals are not broadcasting up any longer, so signal is not as useable. However, the BS excuse of "interferes with cockpit operations" was such BS they couldn't just say "just kidding". Urban legend? Maybe? Fun cahoots type of story though.

p_l 5y ago
Urban legend - even in NMT days, the antennas on cell towers were directional and tried to avoid uselessly radiating upwards. Good luck getting usable signal at any flight level of commercial flight. Even if you're low enough, it's not uncommon for calls to drop due to speed (in fact a common problem on higher speed trains, and newer cell networks do include improvements for high speed terminals due to that). The mobile phone is just the most common device that is required to have its transmitter shut down, and part of that is that what is fine for home/office environment is not fine in aviation environment (different regulatory domains et al) so the easiest way is to mandate shutting down all transmitters then whitelist certain kinds (2.4GHz stuff like Bluetooth tends to get a pass because 2.4GHz is unlicensed due to possible interference from airliner's microwave ovens)
- dylan604 5y ago
  So this interference is only applicable to airlines controled by FAA, or that non-US air carriers/regulators are less concerned about this?
  - p_l 5y ago
    From my knowledge US airlines are the most lax about enforcement. Any data/calls in the flight have to use local base station or wifi calling going over satellite due to mobile signals being simply unavailable, and these days airliner crews consider it mostly a way for harm reduction during takeoff and landing. Anyway, enforcement ultimately depends on flight crew, and you really don't want to know what's the upper limit of their authority.